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Sunday, August 17, 2014

A New Blythe Doll is Born... Sophie

This is the new Blythe doll I customized, Sophie. She began as Nicky Lad , a Neo Blythe. She has a new Azone body that's completely articulated for some awesome photo poses. Also I rerooted her with Grand Champion Alpaca hair from Ashley at https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShangriLaRanch on Etsy. The Alpaca is named Princess! It's gorgeous blonde with almost white highlights.

She has a little cat named Minou. .

She has new eyelashes. And I painted her eyelids robin egg blue with roses and white polka dots. By the way!! I keep forgetting this myself. But don't paint the eyelids before you put them in place. Paint the eyelids while they are already put back in the head. Otherwise the paint scratches off and you have to start over. I've done this mistake twice already! oops!

Besides the alpaca reroot of the hair (which took me 2 weeks. It's a really long and tedious process. If you hate that type of work it would just be torture. You can have a reroot done on Etsy for around $200- $250. Well worth the money if you are not a patient person.), I also carved her mouth, nose holes, philtrum, sanded a lot, added new eyelashes, painted lids, new Azone Pure Neemo S body, faceup, new clothes I made myself(I'm finally getting the hang of the sewing thing.) The cat - I did not make.

The eyes are the stock eyes that came with the doll(pink, green, deep blue, and my favorite light blue). I am still totally in love with the eye chips so I have not attempted to change them yet.

Her hair is very long. It's really soft and thin and exactly like my Yorkie Lizzie's hair.

I added a second pull to make her sleepy/boggled eyes(she can keep her eyes closed).

Let me show you how she looked before....

There she is! Her name was Nicky Lad - a Neo Blythe doll. Okay these are not cheap. So you may not want to use it as your first doll customization project. Get a clone to practice on. The clone Blythe cost $39 on Ebay. I also bought a factory Blythe for $75. That way I could see all 3 types side by side. Here's my impression: if you are going to customize and change the body it doesn't matter which one you get. They are all going to turn out the same. The clone's body is very stiff and doesn't bend her knees enough to sit. The factory Blythe has a better body with knees that bend all the way to sit. The neo(real) Blythe also has knees that bend all the way.
In the picture above, I've taken apart one doll's head(remove screws and pull apart.) I sanded the entire head, front and back plates. I used a medium fine(P280A) and a fine(P600) sandpaper to finish it up. I also used a rougher (P150)sand paper to take out deeper flaws like my blade slipping into the wrong place. I use x-acto knives to carve the new face. I have a set ith a bunch of different blade shapes for different purposes. It's very easy to carve the plastic. Just don't get over excited because if you go through the other side it's pretty much ruined. I've heard you can melt the pull ring's plastic onto your mistake. But that sounds very difficult! So I'll try to avoid that mistake.

Next, the reroot. Like i said - IT TAKES FOREVER!!!!! I used the knot method. All the info on doing these doll is on YouTube by the way. That's where I did all my learning. I already have the scalp back on the dome of the head in the picture. The scalp is just a rubbery material with a million holes in it. I used a crochet hook size 14(.75mm) for most of the holes. But I also used a 10(1.30mm) for those hair plugs I made too thick.

Mr. Super Clear is a matte finish you spray on to protect your new make up. I use chalk as make up. I rub my paint brush on the chalk picking up the chalk dust and then apply it on the face. It's a slow process but it looks very natural. The freckles are brown paint. I dip my toothpick in water, into the brown paint, into the water again, blot a couple of time on paper and apply to the face.
You can also spray the unsanded face with Mr. Super Clear(MSC). This gives you a base to re apply your make up if you don't want to sand off the whole thing. You don't even need to remove the eyes. Just protect them with plastic film or whatever you have, spray and you have a base for your new make up to grip onto. This is a tip from Rella at http://faerieluna.blogspot.com

This is a Pure Neemo body size S by Azone($40). It moves everything. You can also get a Licca body if you buy a clone Blythe. The Licca body has the knees that bend and the arms are softer.

If you are interested in adopting she is available in my shop CinderellaMoments. The pictures were taken inside my Blythe dollhouse available here.
I'm finishing up the furniture of a 1/12 dollhouse. Also underway are a potting shed and another 1/12 cottage.
hugs♥,

Hi Deb! I think either you love thse dolls or you don't. I fell in love with them when I saw Rella's of Faerieluna. They are so photogenic. Besides it's a new scale to try out. You know me- I love to try new stuff. The 1/12 house is coming up this week. And so is the shed. So don't worry I haven't abandoned 1/12. Just adding more stuff to my knowledge base. LOL!!!hugs♥

Hi Caroline, I popped over to Etsy this morning, and your new doll was already in my feed multiple times. It's no wonder she's so popular--she's gorgeous! Thanks for all of the great info too! xo Jennifer

I want to come over and play dolls!!! She is absolutely beautiful! I would feel so overwhelmed to even attempt something like this, you're so talented. I loved dolls when I was little and still do! Amazing job:)

Thank you for all the tips! I just love your new doll! I can't believe how great you are at this, and so many other things too! And this is your second doll?! Unbelievable =)Fantastic work Caroline!Hannah